The grownup guide to great style

Lisa Salzer-Wiles the designer and founder of Lulu Frost jewellery gets it. I know this because as well as creating this beautiful campaign championing strong women of all ages, she’s one of the designers I interviewed for my new book Know Your Style (further details HERE ) . I thoroughly enjoyed chatting to New York-based Lisa over the phone; inRead more

I tried to dump one of my best friends recently, let’s call her Anna; deliberately turned down invites. Didn’t instigate meet-ups for coffee. Was slow on the Whatsapp replies. She was offended, rightly so. She’s 36. I’m 67, says Elaine Kingett. ‘Are you OK? What’s wrong?’ “I should have friends my own age. Not hangRead more

One thing really did lead to another for freelance fashion editor/ stylist Mouchette Bell. A guest-lecturing position morphed into modelling the student collections at Graduate Fashion Week , where she was spotted on the catwalk by an agent from Models 1. ‘I modelled years ago in the 1980s, for some quite big people,’ Mouchette tells me modestly, goingRead more

Though Top of the Lake series two is available to binge-watch on iPlayer, I’m going to savour this one, take each of the six episodes slowly. It’s beautifully shot, strange and brilliant. And: Elisabeth Moss. Superb in The Handmaid’s Tale she is excellent as detective Robin Griffin in Top of the Lake. Nicole Kidman is outstanding, too. Anyhow,Read more

Terry Newman’s Legendary Authors and the Clothes They Wore is every literature-loving, style maven’s summer bible. Highlighting the key works and wardrobes of 50 writers, from Proust to Patti Smith, the book has been celebrated across the broadsheets – including any writer’s punch-the-air moment when legendary cover star Joan Didion shared the New York Times review on Facebook. Job done. We know what the erudite authorRead more

What connects Julianne, Moore, Vera Wang, Jane Campion, Wendy Dagworthy and me? We’ve all failed the Saturday Times’ Age Limit Test: what not to do, say and wear over-40. Unless you’re Patti Smith, the age limit for long hair is 50, ‘You will tend to look a bit witchy if you have shoulder-length hair or longer in you’reRead more

Tomorrow, July 29th is National Lipstick Day says Vicci Bentley . It’s also my 66th birthday – a curious coincidence, since I’m having a bit of a lipstick issue. Throughout most of my lippie-loving career, I’ve enjoyed a relatively smooth ride. Lately though, I’ve noticed a worrying migration from lip central to suburbs – little tributaries ofRead more

Maybe it’s because I’m a northerner that I find the V&A’s vintage prints appealing. Originally produced by the Calico Printer’s Association in Manchester, the People Tree’s V&A collection uses 1930s prints from the museum’s archive. Manchester was home to the textile industry and centre of cotton trade in the 19th century. And where I studied for my degree (not in the 19thRead more